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As many as 10,000 players formerly under NHL contracts and their family members may pursue court cases against the league, court documents say, alleging it has promoted a culture of violence over the past decades but has failed to established proper rules and protocols for preventing head injuries.
The suggestion that so many former players may sue the league comes in a statement of claim filed this week in Minnesota by Cory Larose, a New Brunswick-born forward who signed as an undrafted free agent with the Minnesota Wild in 2000 but only played seven games in the NHL with the New York Rangers in 2003.
Larose, 39, played 425 games in the American Hockey League between 2001 and 2009. He now lives in Maple Grove, Minn., after suffering "multiple head traumas during his NHL career that were improperly diagnosed and treated by the NHL. Mr. Larose was never warned by the NHL of the negative health effects of head trauma, and still suffers from the effects of that head trauma."
He is seeking damages of more than $5 million, the lawsuit says.
Larose is the latest former NHL player to sue for concussion-related issues.
The first group of players included former Maple Leafs stars Gary Leeman and Rick Vaive, who sued the league in November demanding damages and league-financed medical monitoring and treatment for injuries the players said they suffered because of their NH: careers. Vaive later dropped out of the lawsuit.
"The NHL purposefully failed to establish reasonable rules and protocols for preventing head trauma and minimizing the effects of head trauma, including during games and practice," Larose's lawsuit says. "What changes the NHL made to its violent construct were purposefully ineffective and solely calculated by the NHL to mislead (Larose)...and the public into ceasing investigations into the risks and consequences of head trauma and the NHL's wrongdoing."
The court filing says Larose is seeking to sue as part of a larger class of litigants that include approximately 10,000 former players who include any living players who signed an NHL contract, their spouses and dependents, the estates of deceased players, who have retired formally or informally from playing pro hockey in the NHL and who are not seeking active employment as players with an NHL team.
A lawyer involved in one of the concussions lawsuits against the NHL said the judge overseeing the cases is hosting a meeting next week to set out a schedule. The next step is for the league to file motions to dismiss the cases.
If those are denied, then the litigants will ask for permission to certify the cases as a class action. If that is denied, then the cases would be heard individually, the lawyer said.
It's unclear what kind of judgment the players might ultimately receive if they win the case. In a similar lawsuit filed on behalf of 20,000 former NFL players, the NFL agreed to pay about $700 million. That judgment was later amended, with the league agreeing to an unlimited settlement, based on the medical needs of the players.
"In hockey, it's a bit easier case to prove because of the fighting in the sport, and hockey players, the ones I have talked to, are generally worse off than the football players," Steven Silverman, a lawyer representing NHL players, told TSN. "There are a number of tragic cases in hockey and we've seen many cases where we have heard that former NHL trainers have been an owner's former mechanic or something. They have had no medical qualifications.
"But on the other hand, the NHL players have been less willing to come forward, so that makes it harder to predict a settlement number."
Several similar lawsuits filed against the NHL have been moved from other venues and will be heard in Minnesota.
"None of this is surprising," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told TSN. "It's extremely predictable and doesn't have any impact on exposure or likelihood of ultimate success on the merits."
The claims of Larose and other players have not been proven in court and the NHL has yet to file its statement of defence.
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